Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary - Chapter 354

Chapter 354: Chapter 354 Final Push
Forty Alliance Police vessels had just dropped out of light speed on one side of the asteroid field.

At the head of the fleet was a large battleship flanked by two heavy cruisers.

Five light cruisers, eight destroyers, thirteen frigates, and eleven corvettes made up the rest of the force.

There was an imposing strength to them that far outmatched the corrupt officers that had been attacking Avery’s team. And not just because of their greater numbers.

Just the formation that this fleet had taken and an intangible feeling of pressure that emanated from them gave off a sense of overwhelming power. These were clearly ships that had seen a great deal of action, and with experienced crews to match.

“There’s another emblem on the side of the flagship that’s not the Alliance Police’s. It’s… Cerise Gunvald’s!” Jasmine said as she barely managed to magnify the image of the arriving fleet.

For especially decorated officers within the Alliance Police, they were allowed to have their own crest that they could have emblazoned on the side of their ship.

This served to let any would be enemies know exactly who they were dealing with and as an intimation factor.

No doubt that whenever any of the Zatis Consortium vessels fighting on the border saw that it was the famed hero of the Dramid Alliance that they were up against, they could not help but feel fear.

“I wasn’t expecting her to come herself. And it looks like she brought every ship under her command with her. Either we made a better impression than I thought, or this incident is a big enough deal to warrant such a response.”

Avery could not help but relax now that someone that could bring this situation under control was here. Even if his team was forced to stand down and taken into custody, he at least no longer had to worry about them all being unjustly killed.

“This is commander Cerise Gunvald. I am ordering all vessels to stand down. Power off your weapon systems and hand over remote access to my crew. We will be settling this matter.”

As Cerise’s message went out of all common frequencies, Avery could visualize the confusion and panic of the corrupt officers.

Up until now, they had been able to act with impunity, but now someone with greater authority and a far stronger force had stepped in. It would not be much longer now before the crimes of the Alliance Police in this system were exposed.

Of course, the corrupt commander was not just going to take this lying down. If she did, that would be the end. She would end up court-martialed and face life in prison or possibly execution. That was how severe her crimes were.

“Commander Gunvald, this is Commander Triswei. I have not received any communications about your arrival here and this system is under my jurisdiction. You do not have the authority to give me orders, and you are in fact in breach of Section 7A-93 of the Alliance Police code of conduct. I am in the middle of a pirate subjugation, and your sudden appearance is impeding this operation. I would ask that you promptly leave this system and return to your own post. Otherwise, I will have to report this incident to the central command.”

Despite the surprise arrival of one of the most famous officers in the Dramid Alliance, Commander Triswei managed to at least retain an external calm.

While she and her cronies had blatantly been breaking Alliance law for years now, that did not stop her from shamelessly citing them now to attempt to save herself.

“Under normal circumstances, that would be true. But highly compelling evidence of misconduct in the policing of this system has been presented to me and several other commanders and vice chiefs. As such, under Section 1C-15, I have been temporarily given full authority over the entirety of the Alliance Police in this system while I conduct an investigation into the allegations against you and the officers under your command. Now, I’ll only say this one more time, stand down. Otherwise, I will designate you as noncompliant and stop you by force if necessary.”

Cerise transmitted the order giving her authority in this matter and made it clear that she was not going to let Triswei weasel her way out of this.

The law was no longer on her side, and she was severely lacking in forces if she wanted to try and fight her way out.

Still, with the grim prospects of her life going forward, Commander Triswei refused to just surrender.

Instead, she sent out orders to those under her command that Cerise Gunvald was in league with pirates and that they needed to destroy them and escape to report back to the Alliance Police’s central command.

Naturally, this spread confusion among the crew members that had no idea what was going on, but it at least stopped any potential insubordination for now. The crews of Alliance Police vessels were trained to trust their superiors’ judgments, and while it was unbelievable that someone as decorated as Cerise Gunvald would be working with pirates, they at least did not go against their orders. Believing that this would all be worked out once they could get word back to the capital system.

“What are you doi-”

When Cerise attempted to communicate with the now rogue Alliance Police officers, Commander Triswei personally cut the connection and blocked all incoming transmissions other than from the private frequency used between her and her loyal captains. The last thing she wanted was her crew being influenced against her.

“Take us around and prepare to fire the main weapon again. We have to crush those pirates this time before it’s too late.”

At this point it was mostly spiteful rage that compelled Commander Triswei to eliminate Avery’s team, but getting rid of what evidence they had on her was another consideration.

She figured that it was likely already too late to get out of this predicament and that she would have to go on the run, but any way that she could muddy the waters would serve to benefit her.

“Avery, they’re all closing in on us again. Cerise Gunvald has ordered her ships to intercept, but they aren’t going to make it before the others arrive.” Jasmine said as she hastily typed away at the panel in front of her.

Even in the current situation, it seemed that they were still in for a fight.

The section of the asteroid field that they had been using as cover had been fairly thoroughly destroyed over the last three days, and there was only so much room left to hide.

This was one of the reasons why Avery had been close to making the choice to stand and fight before they no longer had any cover to protect themselves.

All of the frigates and corvettes that had been chasing them were now heading directly for them, and even the destroyers were pushing their way through aggressively.

At the same time, Commander Triswei’s heavy cruiser was positioning itself to fire its spinal mounted weapon again, while the light cruiser came in from another direction to limit where Avery’s team could go.

Their intentions were clear. This time they would completely cast aside caution to crush Avery and those that followed him.

“They’re crazy. Only the desperate or an idiot would use their shields to bash through asteroid like that.” Jasmine said, shocked and appalled as their enemies pushed their way towards them.

The larger ships that should have been struggling to maneuver through the maze of floating rocks were now simply using brute force to create a path.

To reach them quickly, Commander Triswei’s forces were no longer bothering to avoid every asteroid in their way.

Obviously, this method did speed up their approach, but it came at the cost of rapidly reducing their shields’ capacity. Something dangerous even for the high-quality Alliance Police ships.

“Focus fully on evasion. We only need to hold out for a couple of minutes before the reinforcements that Kaiden brought arrive. We can do this. I expect everyone to get out of this alive.” Avery transmitted to his entire team just moments before the first enemy ship came into range.

To start, one of the frigates that had been chasing them for several days appeared and immediately began its bombardment.

This was not much of a problem at first, but only a few seconds later the other frigates arrived along with the two corvettes.

The battle turned intense almost immediately, with lasers, bullets, and missiles lighting up the previously calm area.

Soon the first destroyer reached their location and joined in. Causing the battlefield to become more chaotic and far deadlier.

“Jasmine, we’re going in.”

Noticing that members of his team were starting to take hits that they could not afford to, Avery came to the snap decision to make himself the center of attention by plunging directly into the heart of the enemy forces.

“Avery, what are you doing?! This isn’t the time to try and be a hero!” Kasandra shouted over comms.

Jasmine offered her own disapproval even as she rapidly supported Avery with the Dauntless’ subsystems.

He was being reckless again, and he knew it.

However, Avery felt that this was something he had to do here and now as a leader in order to keep everyone under him safe.

‘Come on. I don’t know what it is, but I need that sight now.’

Avery strained his eyes, trying to will the strange power that allowed him to see the flow of energy to manifest.

It had never been possible control when it happened before, but if there was a time that he needed the ability, it was now.